FAQ
*All the answers apply to both editions (Weekender & SDF Festival), unless specified.
SDF Weekender
Every year in February, we organize Summer Dance Forever Weekender, the more intimate edition of Summer Dance Forever. The program consists of different event parts: Battles, theater, workshops, and club nights. This year's program can be found here.
Preselections: Everyone is welcome at the Preselections: whether you're participating or just there to enjoy the vibe. Dancers will hit the floor and have 45 seconds to show what they've got. After this, the three judges will select 48 dancers that each get one more minute to impress them and try to earn a spot in the Top 24 that will continue to the battles.
Battles: In the Battles, those Top 24 dancers will go head-to-head in 1vs1 rounds to reach the Top 12, Top 6, and ultimately the Top 3. They will face off against the three Judges, who step into the battle themselves: the so called legendary Judge Battles. This is what sets Summer Dance Forever apart: our judges don’t just sit behind a desk, they jump into the action and battle on the floor. Don't talk about it — be about it!
Duo-mode: From the Judge Battles on, we switch to Duo Mode - 2vs2 battles! Each Top 3 dancer and each Judge chooses a partner from the Top 24 to form a duo. Together, they’ll battle side by side for the title. Yes... a duo takes the win!
Audience vote: And you, our audience in Paradiso play a vital role… In the Semi-Finals and Final, it's up to the duos themselves to answer the legendary question: Did you win or lose? But if they can’t agree, you will have the final vote to crown our Forever champions who will earn prize money, eternal glory, and the chance to judge at a future event.
You can exchange your printed or digital Package ticket for a wristband at the Paradiso box office (Weteringschans 6-8) from the moment the doors open. You can find all specific times on the event page. The wristband will grant you entrance to the whole festival besides the workshops.
Can't find your ticket? Your ticket(s) will be downloadable in your MySDF account. Login to your account on our website and click on “My Orders” to find an easy overview of all your purchased tickets.
Yes, we are selling food on Saturday and Sunday in the Paradiso basement, with vegetarian and vegan options available. Next to this, there are many good food option in the Leidseplein neighborhood.
GENERAL INFORMATION
The SDF Weekender takes place from 6-8 February 2026 at Paradiso in Amsterdam, NL.
Summer Dance Forever takes place from 25-31 August at various locations in Amsterdam.
The minimum age to participate in the battles is 15. For the workshops, we recommend an age of 12. All club nights are 18+. Kids up to 8 years old have free entrance to the battles and preselections.
You can buy our merch directly at the event inside the main venue at Paradiso, or visit our online shop here: webshop.paradiso.nl/co...
Absolutely. If you are interested, please send an e-mail to volunteers@summerdanceforever.com with a CV and let us know what makes you the person we are looking for. Also keep an eye on our socials, website, or newsletter for volunteer openings.
Yes, all the locations have barrier-free access. For more information please check the information provided on the websites of the venues.
MYSDF ACCOUNT
1. Go to the sign-up page
2. Enter your personal information or select to continue with your Facebook or Google Account
3. If you decide to create an account with your E-mail, you will receive an E-Mail from us. Verify your account through clicking the link attached. If you use Facebook or Google you do not need to verify your account through E-Mail
4. Now you are ready to purchase your tickets!
5. You will not receive your actual ticket right away, but you can download it through your account 5 days prior to the event.
Yes, to securely process your order, you must have a MySDF account. This way we can link your tickets to your profile and help you quickly with problems or questions about your order.
You are able to purchase tickets for Summer Dance Forever without having to put in your personal information with every purchase. It also is an easy way to find all your tickets and furthermore, to forward tickets to your friends and family. Or getting refunds.
Log-In or Sign-up through the “MY SDF ACCOUNT” button in the menu on our website. Once logged in, click on “My Tickets” and you are able to see all your purchased tickets.
HOUSE RULES & REPORTING
→ Treat everyone with respect and as equals
→ Honour cultural differences
→ Stay healthy
→ Zero tolerance for discrimination, harassment, or violence
→ Consent first: only yes means yes
→ Care for the community
→ Speak up
For more information on the house rules, check them out here: https://www.summerdanceforever...
Please be aware of the Paradiso house rules which also apply to all Summer Dance Forever events in Paradiso.
During the event you can reach out to the awareness team (see house rule ‘Speak up’ for more information) or find support at the reception desk at Paradiso or with a member of the Summer Dance Forever team.
If reaching someone on site is not possible or you have suggestions on how we can improve the safety of our festival, send an email to: safe@summerdanceforever.com. This email is monitored by the Managing Director of Summer Dance Forever and everything will be handled confidentially.
During the event you can reach out to the awareness team (see house rule ‘Speak up’ for more information) or find support at the reception desk at Paradiso or with a member of the Summer Dance Forever team.
If reaching someone on site is not possible or you have suggestions on how we can improve the safety of our festival, send an email to: safe@summerdanceforever.com. This email is monitored by the Managing Director of Summer Dance Forever and everything will be handled confidentially.
TICKETS & PACKAGES
You can exchange your printed or digital Package ticket for a wristband at the Paradiso box office (Weteringschans 6-8) from the moment the doors open. You can find all specific times on the event page. The wristband will grant you entrance to the whole festival besides the workshops.
Can't find your ticket? Your ticket(s) will be downloadable in your MySDF account. Login to your account on our website and click on “My Orders” to find an easy overview of all your purchased tickets.
During the SDF Weekender 2026, we will only sell tickets at the door when a program is not sold out. For sold out shows we do not sell extra tickets at the door!
If a program is sold out, you can now safely purchase any available second-hand tickets via Ticketswap. Read more here on the Paradiso website, our partner that takes care of our ticketing.
We accept the following payment methods:
Apple pay
BankContact
GooglePay
Wero (former IDeal)
Maestro
MasterCard
PayConic
PayPal
Visa
VisaDebit
Yes you can, the tickets are not personalized. You can buy up to 8 tickets per purchase, except for festival packages which are limited to 1 per person.
If you want us to email your friend(s) directly in case of any important program changes, you can assign the ticket to your friend(s) in your SDF-account. Select the ticket(s) you want to send to a friend and click on “Assign tickets”. Complete the steps after which your friend will receive an email to claim the ticket(s). They can log into their own SDF account (or create a new one) and then claim the ticket(s).
You can also send your friend(s) the tickets via email, but then you will be the only one receiving program update emails from us.
Please note that the message “Order is being processed” at the end of the order checkout is not a confirmation that your order was successful. If a deduction has taken place via the payment method used, it generally means that the payment is on its way or has succeeded. When no successful payment is visible and you haven't received an order confirmation within 30 minutes you can assume that the payment has failed.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to get another opportunity to pay for this order.
Once an order has been completed with a payment, after a few minutes you will receive an order confirmation email to the email address entered when placing the order (exceptions to this rule are bank transfers/iDeal).
If you lost the confirmation email with your ticket(s), you can use this link to request that your confirmation email be resent. Have you not received your confirmation email at all? There might be different reasons for this:
- You might have entered your email address incorrectly. If you think this is the case, please contact Paylogic.
- For payments made with debit cards (instead of credit cards), you can see the payment immediately in your bank statement. However, it is possible that there is a delay between the time the amount has left your account, and it is actually in Paylogic account. As a result, it may take a little longer before you receive your confirmation email.
- The payment process may also have stopped due to a loading error, problems with your Internet connection or an accidentally closed screen. If Paylogic does not receive payment for the created order within a certain time, the order will be automatically cancelled. In that case, you can then place a new order.
- Please note: we do not recommend making multiple payment attempts in a row without first checking whether you have succeeded in placing your order, if you are unsure, please contact your bank.
If your payment was automatically cancelled, here are some suggestions that will hopefully help you successfully place a new order:
- You can contact your bank to make sure that they allow international transactions.
- You can also try to place the order using a different payment method, a different browser (in our experience, Google Chrome works best) or you can try again from a different computer/IP address.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to change a payment method after completing the order. If the order is not completed with a payment, it will automatically be cancelled. You can then place a new order.